Tuck This In Your Daughter’s Duffel

Is your daughter headed off to camp or college soon? Want her to think of you AND learn some great “life lessons” as she heads out? Tuck this book into her duffeland you’ve done your job well. Here’s a short blurb about a book with a two by four spiritual ”umph” to the head. In a good way!  (FYI: this is a non-denominational site, so any other religious views are warmly welcomed.)

At her worst, Donna Lee Schillinger had a child out of wedlock, was $25,000 in debt and had the mouth and morals of a sailor. Does this sound like a good role model for your daughter? So, what makes Schillinger, the unlikely author of On My Own Now: Straight Talk from the Proverbs for Young Christian Women who Want to Remain Pure, Debt-free and Regret-free, think parents will line up to purchase her manual on independent living for their daughters who will soon be leaving home? Even if it is based in the Proverbs!

    Schillinger explains, “Imagine we’re driving down the road and a red sports car passes us and speeds on ahead out of sight. Five minutes later, the car comes back toward us. The driver slows down and waves at us to stop. He hollers from his window, ‘The road is blocked up ahead. You won’t be able to get through that way.’” As the story unfolds, Schillinger reveals that she’s that guy. With a humorous and ironical voice of experience, Schillinger waves the red flag of caution for young women, warning against the pitfalls of a post-modern, sexually casual, consumer-is-king society that is indelibly scarring youth with cynicism, sexually transmitted diseases and bad credit.

    The simple practice of reversing the gender in the scriptures from which she springboards her commentary proves the Proverbs to be rich in content throughout (not just in the last chapter) for today’s young Christian woman. Then there are the anecdotes: Schillinger tells of the time she slept with her hands wrapped around her neck and her fingers in the shape of a cross to stave off a vampire attack to point out how fear can cripple women on their own; a hitch-hiking trip gone wrong illustrates the results of abandoning wisdom for adventure; and the progressive pizza puke leaves no doubt about what is meant by “wine is a mocker” (Proverbs  20:1), if not leaving the reader wondering, “Did she really have to go there?” Indeed, Schillinger is effective at scaring a girl straight, though not without the encouragement she’ll need to commit to a deeper spiritual walk.

On My Own Now: Straight Talk from the Proverbs for Young Christian Women who Want to Remain Pure, Debt-free and Regret-freeby Donna Lee Schillinger © 2009 The Quilldriver, ISBN 9780979163951 Softcover, 288 pp. $14.95. Buy at Amazon, B&N or www.OnMyOwnNow.com